Funding for ESO and NOT observations

​Incentive funding for accepted ESO and ALMA proposals

Purpose of the program:   To increase the scientific return from the Finnish ESO membership, FINCA has a funding scheme, since the ESO P101 and ALMA Cycle 5 semesters, where the successful PI of each ESO or ALMA proposal will be eligible to receive funding that can be used, e.g., for travel expenses to visit/invite relevant collaborators, or to report scientific results in a conference, or to hire a student or a postdoc to facilitate timely analyses of the data. The PI must be employed by one of the participating universities of FINCA.

Rules and processes of the program:

  1. FINCA receives information directly from the ESO database regarding Finland-based proposals that have been succesful in receiving time allocations in a given semester (note that for this reason, it is important for Finland-based astronomers to have a correct affiliation in the ESO observer portal).  The FINCA director presents this list to the FINCA Board for an in principle approval of grants, within budget constraints.
  2. Funding is not automatic, but upon receiving notification from FINCA regarding a preliminary awarding of the grant, and its maximum amount, the PI of a proposal that was awarded time is expected to present a justified plan on its use.  This plan must align with the purpose of the program as outlined above.
  3. Only one ESO and one ALMA allocation per PI per semester is accepted.  The maximum amount of funding is is currently 5 k€ per PI.  The actual amount may, however, be smaller, depending on the success rate of proposals from Finland, and the annual budgeted total allocation.  The awarded funding has to be spent within one year from the date when the last observational data for the project is delivered to the PI.
  4. There is no scaling of the funding based on e.g., the allocated number of observing hours, or the oversubscription factor of the requested telescope/instrument. However, Target-of-Opportunity programs will get funding only if they are triggered, i.e., actually receive observational data.
  5. In hiring personnel, the applicable rules and restrictions enforced by the University of Turku shall be followed.

Travel expenses for NOT observations

FINCA has funding to compensate the PIs of accepted NOT proposals at Finnish institutes for:  (1) in visitor mode, expenses covering travel, accommodation, car rental and subsistence at the observatory for one observer; and (2) in service mode, to cover the night charges as determined by the NOT.  This funding is available for all NOT projects that have data collected from the beginning of 2017.

Reimbursements

FINCA and UTU staff should use the normal internal UTU SAP travel claims system for seeking approval and submitting claims (please see the necessary cost centres and project numbers below).

In case of non-UTU staff,  for reimbursement of expenses after an ESO incentive-grant related travel, or after a NOT visitor run, please use an invoice for travel expenses found below.  Please note that according to University of Turku travel regulations, daily allowances can only be paid to UTU (and FINCA) staff.  Fill in also the listed personal identification form if you are a first time user of these programmes, and return scanned and signed copies of the forms, together with all receipts, by e-mail to Sirpa Kelosto, sirpa.kelosto AT utu.fi , with a copy to the FINCA director.

Please indicate the following project name/numbers on the claim forms, or on the SAP system in case of UTU personnel:

  • For ESO time related funding use:  cost-centre #2609700 (‘ESO-keskus’) and the Internal Order (sisäinen tilaus) project number #2600550 (‘ESO-kannustinraha’).
  • For NOT time related funding use:  cost-centre #2609700 (‘ESO-keskus’) and the Internal Order (sisäinen tilaus) project number #26005285 (‘NOT-havaintoajan kulut’).

Finally, invoices from the NOT regarding night charges in service mode should be asked to be sent via the University invoicing services.  Instructions in Finnish can be found on the intranet (under Ulkomaiset toimijat ): https://intranet.utu.fi/index/hankinnat/Sivut/Toimitusosoitteet.aspx

A pdf should be asked to be sent to purchaseinvoices_uni@xbs-salo.com with the following address information:

University of Turku
P.O. Box 772
00074 CGI
FINLAND

Importantly, the invoice should mention FINCA and cost-center 2609700 in its reference field.

Acknowledgements

In all publications and communications benefiting from this funding, one of the two following acknowledgements, as applicable, should be included:

We acknowledge funding to support the scientific use of our ESO/ALMA data from the Finnish Centre for Astronomy with ESO (FINCA), University of Turku, Finland.

We acknowledge funding to support our NOT observations from the Finnish Centre for Astronomy with ESO (FINCA), University of Turku, Finland.

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